A new web site has been launched to share information about sports concussions and traumatic brain injury.

The Sport Concussion Library features a collection of scientific studies, documentaries pertaining to brain injuries. General information is tailored to parents, coaches, players, teachers and first responders, while education modules allow users to gauge and improve their knowledge of concussions. The site explains how to use important sports concussion tests and first responders and health workers can register to use it online.

Perhaps most interesting of all on the website are the various lengthy and candid testimonials from individuals who have experienced concussion firsthand, including hockey and football players, cyclists, and a wrestler, plus parents of injured athletes.

The Candidate must have published at least three (3) manuscripts in the field of brain injury

The Candidate must show promise that they will continue to contribute to the field into future years.

The second award is the Lifetime Achievement Award which is given when deemed appropriate to a meritorious individual who has made significant contributions to the field of brain injury through some form of advocacy (prevention, education, legislative, scientific, etc). It is anticipated that said individual will have made a contribution to the field of brain injury advocacy and support over at least a twenty (20) year time span.

The nomination deadline is January 23, 2012

You can get more information about the award process, further criteria and how to make a nomination by clicking here.

"Faces of Distracted Driving" is a video series that raises awareness about the potentially tragic consequences of texting and cell phone use while driving by sharing the stories of family members who have lost loved ones in distracted driving crashes. In 2009, nearly 5,500 people died and half a million were injured in accidents involving a distracted driver. The series is part of an effort by the United States Department of Transportation to raise greater awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.

To learn more about USDOT's efforts to stop distracted driving, click here .

An article in the Journal Pediatrics reports that headaches, a common complaint following a concussion or other traumatic brain injury can linger for up to a year following the injury.

Children who have sustained a concussion are more likely to develop headaches than children who have sustained other types of injuries according to the study.

While not entirely surprising, the results point to a difficult long-term problem for kids and their parents because adequate treatments are lacking, researchers say.

Headaches are a truly troubling problem for children because it can affect sleep, make it harder to concentrate and cause profound personality changes. Headaches can affect school performance and must be monitored by school personal.

The study tracked more than 400 children who had come into the emergency room with a brain injury -- 402 kids had a mild injury and 60 kids had a moderate or severe injury. The study authors compared these head-injury cases to kids who had come into the emergency room with an arm injury. Parents and children kept a diary of any headaches the kids reported for a year.

After three months, 43 out of every 100 kids who experienced a mild brain injury complained of headaches. Among kids with moderate or severe brain injuries, 37 out of every 100 complained of headaches. It's unclear why the children with mild brain injury were more likely to have headaches than those who suffered more severe damage. In comparison, 26 out of every 100 kids who had an arm injury reported having headaches three months later.

The research also reported that girls were at a greater risk of suffering from post concussion headaches than boys. Girls who had a mild brain injury were more than twice as likely to have headaches as girls who had an arm injury, whereas boys had nearly similar rates of headaches regardless of the type of injury.

In an article in the journal Clinical Neuropsychology, neuropsychologists are finally demanding some recognition of the critical role they can play in the recognition of a sports concussion and the management of what is now a true crisis in the sports world.

The article, “Role of Neuropsychologists in the Evaluation and Management of Sport-related Concussion: An Inter-Organization Position Statement” Clin Neuropsychol. 2011 Nov; 25(8): 1289-1294 abstract states:

Over the past 20 years, clinical neuropsychologists have been at the forefront of both scientific and clinical initiatives aimed at developing evidence-based approaches to the evaluation and management of sport-related concussion. These efforts have directly impacted current policy on strategies for injury assessment and return-to-play by athletes after concussion. Many states are considering legislation requiring (a) education of athletes, parents, coaches, and school/organization officials on the recognition, evaluation, and management of sport-related concussions; (b) removal from play of any youth athlete that is suspected of having sustained a concussion; and (c) not allowing the student to return to participation until the student is evaluated and cleared for return to participation in writing by an appropriate healthcare professional. It is the official position of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), American Board of Neuropsychology (ABN), Division 40 (Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) that neuropsychologists should be included among the licensed health care professionals authorized to evaluate, clinically manage, and provide return to play clearance for athletes who sustain a sport-related concussion.

My question for this esteemed group is where have they been in this discussion up to now?

Last week, the NFL instituted a policy change designed to change the “hear no evil-see no evil” attitude of those on the side line to the reporting of concussions.

Under the new rules, a certified athletic trainer, paid by the league, will be at each game to monitor play and provide medical staffs with "any relevant information that may assist them in determining the most appropriate evaluation and treatment," the NFL said in a statement Wednesday.

The trainer's "role will be to provide information to team medical staffs that might have been missed due to a lack of a clear view of the play or because they were attending to other players or duties," the statement said.

The problem with this new rule is that the certified trainer can't order that players be removed from a game. Unless the NFL puts teeth into its new found religion when it comes to concussion, it will still be the same old, same old.

The National Fire Protection Association and US Fire Administration are urging you to Put a Freeze on Winter Fires. These organizations estimate that there are 250 home fires involving Christmas trees and another 170 home fires involving holiday lights and other decorative lighting every year.

For tips on how to reduce your risk of a home fire this holiday season, including a dramatic video demonstration of what happens when fire touches dry and well-watered trees, visit the US Fire Administration

More lawsuits have been commenced against the N.F.L. by players claims that the league intentionally hid the dangers of concussions and misled players about the long term consequences of traumatic brain injury.

The latest suits filed in Miami follow similar suits filed in Atlanta last week and in California earlier this year.

All the suits follow a similar pattern of accusing the N.F.L. of deliberately omitting or concealing years of evidence linking concussions to long-term neurological problems. Not surprisingly, like tobacco companies faced with similar types of claims, the N.F.L. denied the charges and said that player safety has long been a priority.

The players say the N.F.L. made misrepresentations about the seriousness of their injuries “with the intent of inducing N.F.L. players, including plaintiffs, to return to play as soon as physically possible after having suffered a football-related concussion and to promote an aggressive style of football that would attract viewers.”

According to the lawsuit, after numerous studies on the risks of concussions, the N.F.L. created a committee of researchers and doctors in 1994 to study the issue.

The committee was supposed to be independent, but members were affiliated with the N.F.L., according to the lawsuit, and the group did not include a doctor specializing in neurology or other brain research. When the committee published its findings in 2003, it stated that “there was no long term negative health consequence associated with concussions,” according to the complaint.

The lawsuit notes that in 2010, the N.F.L. replaced the leaders of its research committee, and that the new leadership described the data used in the past by the league to counter the long-term effects of concussions as “infected” and lacking in science.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has published new regulations that ban the use of cell phones while driving trucks. The rule will be effective in about 30 days and will provide needed protection to motorists on our nation's highways from needless accidents with tractor trailers and other trucks.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) and the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) are amended to restrict the use of hand-held mobile telephones by drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) including big rigs, tractor trailers, semi and other trucks involved in interstate commerce.

This rulemaking will improve safety on the Nation’s highways by reducing the prevalence of distracted driving related crashes, fatalities, and injuries involving drivers of CMVs.

The Agencies that regulate interstate trucks also are amending their regulations to implement new driver disqualification sanctions for drivers of CMVs who fail to comply with this Federal restriction and new driver disqualification sanctions for commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders who have multiple convictions for violating a State or local law or ordinance on motor vehicle traffic control that restricts the use of hand-held mobile telephones. Additionally, motor carriers are prohibited from requiring or allowing drivers of CMVs to use hand-held mobile telephones.

Trucking accidents are a leading cause of death and injury on our nation’s highways. Not surprisingly, many of these accidents result in traumatic brain injury to the innocent victims. The law firm of De Caro & Kaplen, LLP has developed special knowledge and experience in representing accident victims involved in collisions with trucks. Michael Kaplen is on the advisory board of the plaintiff’s interstate trucking association. Both Michael Kaplen and his partner Shana De Caro are active members of the American Association for Justice Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. Contact De Caro & Kaplen, if you need legal assistance following an accident with a tractor trailer or other big rig.

The George Washington University was the first post-secondary institution in the nation to have developed and implemented a specialized graduate degree program, geared toward training professionals in the field of special education and brain injury. For the past five years I have had the privilege of being a guest instructor for this wonderful program.

The brain injury special educator may work directly with children with acquired brain injury (ABI) or with the school teams and families who support them. The curriculum is focused on training teachers to work in high need school districts and high poverty schools where the incidence of pediatric brain injury is very high. Students are offered the opportunity of specialized coursework, high quality supervised practica and internships, as well as ongoing school and community-based mentorship opportunities.

You can earn a Master’s while pursuing teacher licensure in Special Education. You can prepare to become a special education teacher to serve school age children and youth with traumatic and acquired brain injuries. The program includes on-campus and on-line coursework, and is possible to complete within two years.

Board Certified
American Board of Professional
Liability Attorneys
Medical Liability

Sustaining Member
American Association for Justice
Public Justice Foundation

Fellow
North American Brain Injury Association

The National Board of Trial Advocacy and the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys are not affiliated with any government authority. Certification is not a requirement for the practice of law in the State of New York and does not necessarily indicate greater competence than other attorneys experienced in this field of law.